


Cowboy Like Me

by FictionalMindFrame



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Cowboy AU, F/F, Sort Of, also maybe accidentally did enemies to lovers again oops, my version of a cowboy AU anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalMindFrame/pseuds/FictionalMindFrame
Summary: Raelle Collar promised when she quit that she'd never go on another bounty again, but sometimes you get an offer you can't refuse. Scylla Ramshorn might be more than she bargained for.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 26
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First, I didn't even notice I'd accidentally done enemies to lovers again until this was halfway done, it was purely the first thing I thought of when someone asked for a cowboy AU. Second, I have no idea if this is remotely what they had in mind, but regardless, here you go. Thirdly, my knowledge of cowboys and all that stuff is minimal so please ignore all the wildly inaccurate imaginings in this.

There was complete quiet where Raelle sat on the ranch. The horses were taken care of and she’d finished everything she had to do, so she found herself content to just sit on the porch and take it all in. The sun was starting to set on the horizon, the long summer day finally ending with cooler, more tolerable air settling on her skin. Her pops had gone to sleep already, his back giving him bother as usual. Realistically, he shouldn’t even still be working on the ranch, but Raelle couldn’t do it on her own and they couldn’t afford to hire another set of hands.

The silence was disturbed by the distinct sound of an approaching horse. Raelle looked for the source of the new noise, confused at the disruption; the Collar ranch was far enough out of town that people rarely came for a social call. Odds were that something was wrong.

The blonde downed the dregs of her whiskey just as Marshal Alder slowed her horse to a halt at the edge of the porch, then tipping her hat in the imposing woman’s direction, she stood, “Marshal.”

“Collar. I have a job for you.”

“No.”

“You might want to hear me out first. It’s good money, and you’re the best at what you do.”

“All due respect Ma’am,” The insincerity wasn’t lost on Alder, but Raelle had made her disdain clear plenty of times and wasn’t concerned about being falsely polite, “We’ve had this conversation before, and the answer ain’t changed. No matter the bounty.”

Alder’s eyebrow twitched, but restraint had always been her strength, “And how’s your father these days? It’s too bad you can’t afford to bring on a set of hands.”

Alder knew just where to push, always had. Raelle had hunted bounties for her for years, hoping to save up enough to fix the family ranch up and expand so that it was profitable enough to support them. She’d been close when her mama died a year back, but wasn’t quite there. She’d quit anyway. She hated the work and her father needed help on the ranch, so she’d told the marshal she was done and swore she wouldn’t ever go back. So far she hadn’t, but her father’s back wasn’t getting any better.

Fucking Sarah Alder.

“How much?”

Knowing she’d won, Alder’s lips pulled up, “Enough for a ranch hand, for at least a year and a half. Maybe two.”

That kind of money didn’t come with some small-scale criminal. Whoever this was, they were probably more pain than it was worth. It didn’t matter though; Alder had her pinned. Her pops couldn’t go on like this.

“Big money. What’d they do?”

“Murder. Four of the Camarilla were found with bullets in their heads. Clean work, perfect aim, no mess. Ramshorn left a note though. Signed her name, warned the rest that they were next. That was two weeks ago, and no one’s been able to track her down yet. The Camarilla are getting scared. They want it dealt with.”

Raelle wasn’t a fan of the Camarilla. They were a well-to-do group of old men who had their fingers in every pot in the town. Every time something happened, it always seemed to her that they were close by, but that was just her instinct, there was no actual offense she could point to. Didn’t help that the mayor was one of them. Still though, murder was murder.

“What about the ranch? I can’t leave pops to do everything for who knows how long while I chase this Ramshorn guy.”

“Girl,” Adler pulled the bounty notice from her pocket and tossed it to Raelle, “Scylla Ramshorn. And as far as the ranch goes, Craven can do it. She’s been asking for leave, and you know she’d be all too happy to play cowgirl for a month or two.”

Once again, Alder was right. Tally loved the ranch, spending a lot of her free time helping Raelle and expecting nothing in return. Raelle sighed and looked down at the notice in her hands. She didn’t recognize the face, and she knew everyone local, so this woman must be a blow in. Part of Raelle felt conflicted about accepting a bounty for a crime that she wasn’t convinced was all that bad, and the pretty face didn’t help her conflicted mind. In the end, she needed that money.

“Alright. I’ll do it.” Alder smirked, and it was almost enough for Raelle to reconsider, “As long a Tally agrees to work the ranch until I get back, and I get to see the case file.”

“Not happening, Collar. I’ll talk to Craven, but you’re a bounty hunter, don’t concern yourself with the rest.”

She wanted to argue more, but she’d known it was a long shot. Besides, she could just get Abigail to steal them for her.

“I’ll get packed up tonight and set out as soon as Tally gets here in the morning. Any ideas about where she’s hidin’ out?”

“It looked like she went North when she fled, but by now who knows where she is. No family, and the address she’d been at looked like it was abandoned months ago. Word is that the family came from Brook Falls, but no one has spotted her up there either. You can ask Craven more in the morning, she was tracking her for a while.”

Alder didn’t wait for a reply before turning her horse and heading back towards town. Thoughts a mess in her head, Raelle poured another few fingers into her glass and tried to shake off her hesitation.

* * *

Edwin Collar hadn’t been happy to hear Raelle was going out on a bounty when he woke, knowing how much she hated it and that she was probably took the job to help him, but it had already been decided. He was even less enthused when he heard the Camarilla were tangled up in the mess, but all Raelle had done after he tried to argue with her was announce she had to go see Abigail and that Tally would be over soon.

The Bellweathers were big shots in town, and Abigail’s father was in the Camarilla. It was something her and Abigail had butted heads over frequently, but eventually Raelle had learnt to accept that Abigail was raised a certain way and Abigail had started to listen to Raelle’s dissatisfaction with the society she socialized with. That progress, however, was probably not enough to make the Bellweather unbiased in a case that involved the murder of men her family were close with.

Raelle tied her favourite horse, Kevin, outside the Bellweather house and knocked, hoping Abigail herself answered and she wouldn’t have to deal with any of her aloof family members. The heavy door creaked open and Abigail stood there with an unimpressed look on her face.

“Thought you’d be gone by now, heard Alder’s setting you off on Ramshorn’s tail.”

“I’m leaving soon, thought maybe you could snag me some more info before I went?” This had happened a lot in the past, so Abigail knew what Raelle’s pointed stare and emphasised words meant.

“Look, I barely have access to that file, Alder doesn’t trust anyone near it. Besides, there’s nothing fishy with this bounty Collar, four people are dead, and she left a note. What are you hoping to find?”

Raelle kept her voice low, not wanting any passing gossips to hear, never mind any Bellweathers, “I don’t like hunting people down when I only have half the details Abi, you know that.”

“I know you don’t like the Camarilla Rae, but there isn’t some secret conspiracy here. And in case you’ve forgotten, she’s threatened my dad’s life. So maybe stop asking questions about the wrong people!” The taller girl’s anger was clear despite her hushed tone, but Raelle wasn’t giving up.

“I ain’t forgotten anythin’ Abi! But I need that file. Please?”

Abigail glanced back into the house when the stairs let out a groan under someone’s weight, but returned to the woman in front of her when no one emerged, “Fine. I’ll go over and grab a copy now and take it over to the ranch. But I’m telling you, this is clean cut.”

Relief flooded the blonde, “Thanks Abi.”

“You owe me one. And next time, clean off those boots before dragging mud all over my doorstep!”

Raelle turned with a sarcastic dip of her hat and a smirk, “I’m so very sorry Miss Bellweather. Won’t happen again.”

* * *

Tally was having coffee with her pops when Raelle arrived back at the ranch. When Raelle flopped into a seat at the table, it was immediately clear that even though the redhead was happy to spend time on the ranch, she agreed with Edwin’s objections.

“I’m just saying, I saw those bodies, this isn’t some careless idiot who took a notion Raelle. She was meticulous, if there hadn’t been a note, no one would ever have figured out it was her. And you swore you wouldn’t go back to this again.”

“Tal, I’m doing this. So you can give me information or you can berate me, but you ain’t changin’ my mind.”

Tally sighed and dropped her head into her hands, elbows resting on the table as Edwin got up and took his leave. As the door closed behind him, Tally turned to Raelle.

“I followed her for a week, found her in Bat’s Head and tracked her all the way to the green lake. Every time I got close, she slipped away. Last I saw her was three days ago in the old pass, and I thought I’d finally nailed her, but that horse of hers is fast as lightening. Might even give Kevin a run for his money.”

“No chance. No one beats Kev.”

“Rae?” Raelle didn’t bother speaking, just met Tally’s eyes and nodded her on, “I have a bad feeling about this. The Camarilla’s bad news, and I feel like there’s something else going on. Please,” The hand Tally reached out gripped Raelle’s wrist hard as she spoke, “Be careful.”

Tally worked for Alder, and when she’d started Raelle knew immediately that she was good at seeing through bullshit, but she’d been so bright eyed and bushy tailed at first that Raelle couldn’t stand her. It didn’t last long- Tally valued fairness and loyalty and had soon started to doubt both the marshal and the Camarilla. After that, her and Raelle had gotten along like a house on fire. At Tally’s words, there was an uneasiness in her gut that the blonde tried to shake, but the truth was that she’d felt like that since agreeing to Alder’s proposition the previous night.

“Don’t worry Tal, I always am.”

* * *

After getting the files from Abigail and saying her goodbyes to everyone, Raelle headed north, figuring the best start would probably be checking out the towns at either end of the old pass for any information. She doubted she’d find any, given what Tally had said about the careful behaviour the woman had exhibited already.

She was prepared for a long chase. It could take weeks before she caught wind of her target, but it would all be worth it in the end. After riding for most of the day, she set up camp for the night, preferring to avoid any townland for fear Ramshorn might catch wind of her staying at an inn. Her career as a bounty hunter might have been short lived, but she was well known. Alder hadn’t just been trying to flatter her, Raelle knew she was one of the best. She could ride better than anyone she knew, her aim was damn near perfect, and she was a quick thinker.

Before trying to get some sleep, she decided it was probably best she look over the case file. It was likely she was making a fuss over nothing, but she’d always tried to trust her instincts. And they were all over the place at the minute.

Prior to leaving town she had asked around about the Ramshorns, and there were several rumours floating around about some accident three months back. Apparently, a couple had died in their sleep on the same night. It seemed suspicious to her, but when she’d tried to find out what had happened, everyone disagreed on the causes. Heart attack, alcohol, stroke, overworking. There were a hundred different ideas floating about, but everyone was adamant it was natural. They hadn’t been in town long enough to piss anyone off, and all accounts agreed that they didn’t have any trouble with anyone.

Regardless, no one knew anything about a Scylla Ramshorn, just some nameless daughter they’d never seen, so Raelle couldn’t tell if they were even the same family. She’d hoped there might be some clarification in the case file, but there was next to nothing on Scylla’s background.

A sketch, an old address, the note she’d left behind and an alias were all they had on her. Everything else was related to the crime scene. Nothing on the victims either, just names. No motive. No link between them other than being in the Camarilla.

Something niggled on the back of her mind, Tally’s words creeping back into her head. There were too many holes in the story, too much she didn’t know. Dropping the files in her backpack, the blonde rolled out a blanket and lay down to sleep, pistol just within reach.

* * *

She’d been tracking Ramshorn for three weeks, trading letters back and forth with Alder giving updates. She’d landed in a tiny town a week and a half’s ride from Salem town. She’d been getting closer and closer all week, and now she’d finally caught up. Tally hadn’t been joking about how fast the woman moved- she never even stayed more than a night in any town. There wasn’t anything within a day’s ride of Hawkepoint, so unless she’d camped out on the open road, Ramshorn must be somewhere in the town.

Raelle headed towards the first place she always went to on any bounty. The saloon. Nothing happened in any town that didn’t end up gossiped about over a drink- if anyone knew anything, she’d hear it there. Hat tilted low over her face in an attempt to block as much of it from view as she could, she pushed through the swinging doors and scanned the room. It was loud, music playing from the corner but barely audible over the raucous laughter and chatter filling the room. There were several tables of people playing poker to her left, but it was so busy she couldn’t see much through the crowd. For such a small town, the saloon sure was busy. Sighing at the noise, Raelle approached the bar, needing something to take the edge off.

The guy behind the bar looked tired but was friendly enough as he neared Raelle.

“What’ll it be?”

“Whiskey, whatever’s cheapest will do.”

She hardly had a chance to reach into her pocket before someone broke from the crowd behind her and a voice lilted, “Make that the mid-range. Can’t have a face that pretty drinking the cheap stuff.”

Raelle turned as a hand that wasn’t hers placed money on the bar, set on flirting her way to whatever information the woman who’d just spoken was privy to. Mesmerising blue eyes met her own, a loose charming smile lighting up an already stunning face. The sketch hadn’t done her justice.

Her brain rebooted in less than a second, and Raelle just prayed that Ramshorn would put it down to shyness. Her fears had been for naught, the brunette showed no signs of recognizing her, so Raelle ran through her options and landed on acting like nothing was amiss. There were too many people in the room, trying to restrain her mark here could lead to any number of problems. A fight could break out, she could lose Ramshorn in the crowd, the woman might have backup for all Raelle knew. She would wait it out instead, let herself enjoy the flirtation and deal with the rest once things died down or she got Ramshorn to another location.

It had been a while since she’d flirted with anyone, not since her mother’s death. She couldn’t even remember how. Plastering a smirk on her face, Raelle hoped she hadn’t lost all of her charm, “Is that so?”

“I don’t make the rules, just enforce them.” She reached over and picked the freshly poured glass form the counter and held it out to the blonde. As Raelle took the glass from her, hands grazing ever so slightly and catching her off guard, the brunette spoke again, “Drink up.” Scylla bit her bottom lip, and the glass was practically on her lips already when she added, “Unless there’s something else you’d rather taste?”

Her hand stopped, drink just in front of her lips. The suggestion was clear. It seemed that even if she had forgotten how to flirt, Ramshorn would do all the work for her. She tried to ignore the pull in her gut, but God it had been too long since she’d so much as kissed anyone, and now here she was falling for a murderer’s charms. Murderer. Bounty. _Focus Collar._ Eyes on Scylla’s, she swallowed air and lowered the glass to the bar again but didn’t let go, “And if there was?”

Scylla took another step towards her, not that there had been much space between them to begin with, “No time like the present.”

Raelle could feel the brunette’s breath on her face, could smell the light perfume she wore- honestly, what kind of on the run criminal had time for that- and could feel those blue eyes boring through her entire being. Telling herself it was a means to an end and not her own desire, Raelle lifted the glass off the counter and turned her neck, downing the whiskey and returning it to the bar in one swift motion. Then she raised her hands either side of the brunette’s face and brought them closer, pausing less than a centimeter from her lips, blue eyes on blue.

It was messy, but Scylla reacted instantly, one hand coming up to grab her shoulder and the other sliding around her waist, pulling them flush against each other. The outlaw’s mouth was demanding, tongue pushing for entrance and hands squeezing playfully when it was granted. Raelle had thought her close before, but now she was everywhere. Some part of her was a little embarrassed at how public this was, it definitely didn’t feel appropriate, but she wasn’t going to stop it. _It’s a bounty. It’s a bounty. It’s a bounty._

Raelle could taste the remnants of the wine the woman must have been drinking earlier, and it was more of a struggle than she’d like to admit to remember what she was supposed to be doing. She pulled back in the hopes of catching her breath and finding her sense again, but the feeling of Scylla’s mouth on her neck was just as distracting as it had been on her lips. How had she gotten this out of breath this fast?

Realising she needed to get out of there before she completely lost her goal, the blonde asked, “Want to get out of here?”

The lips, which had since moved from her neck to just below her ear, nipped teasingly at her lobe and whispered, “Thought you’d never ask.”

Ramshorn removed her hands from where they’d wandered to and took hold of Raelle’s right in her left, leading her towards the swinging doors of the saloon. Raelle was alert again, this was her chance and she had to play her cards right. As soon as they were out those doors, she needed to make her move.

She never got the chance. The door behind her hadn’t even swung shut before her back was pressed up against the wall beside it, her mark once again turning into her putty. Her hands flew to the brunette’s hips, gripping at the skirts over them. This was getting out of hand, but really, what was the harm in enjoying herself for five more minutes? Five more minutes, then she’d do it. One of the hands that had gripped her shirt collar dragged itself down her torso, pausing long enough to quickly fondle her right breast, and then moving to rest in the back pocket of her jeans. She dismissed the moan that fell from her lips as part of the charade, but really her control was slipping. Had it been five minutes or one? For all she knew, at this stage they could’ve been outside for an hour.

She froze when she felt cold metal nudging against her jaw. Brain snapping out of whatever haze had taken her, Raelle realised her holster was now empty. She was fucked, no way she reached the backup in her boot before Ramshorn blew her brains out.

“Not gonna lie, I expected better of the great Raelle Collar.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“Back up, hands where I can see them.” The way her pupils were dilated and the shiver that ran up the brunette’s body as Raelle slid her hands off of it gave her a small sense of satisfaction, at least she hadn’t been the only one affected by what was evidently supposed to be a farce on both sides. She took three steps backwards, hands up and out in front of her.

Ramshorn, still pointing Raelle’s own pistol at the blonde, took a step towards the nearest horse- given the familiarity the animal showed with her, presumably it was her own- and pulled a lasso out of one of the knapsacks. Raelle really didn’t like where this was going. To absolutely no one’s surprise, the end of the lasso was dropped over her head and tightened. Ramshorn lowered the gun to the empty holster at her own waist and used both hands to secure the rope snugly over Raelle’s torso, binding her arms flat against her sides and low enough that she couldn’t bend her elbows. Apparently, the outlaw didn’t think that was sufficient -it wouldn’t have been but Raelle had really been hoping to be underestimated- and fastened another length of rope around her wrists before tying them to the post next to the horse. Then, in a move that felt like a massive fuck you, she untied the horse from the post next to her as though she had all the time in the world.

She felt her hat being lifted from her head and turned to watch the brunette plop it onto her own head, tip it and say, “Nice meeting you ma’am. Can’t wait til we meet again.”

Raelle didn’t bother struggling against the rope as she watched Ramshorn mount her horse and gallop away, there was no use. She’d have to just wait it out until someone sober enough to undo the knots stumbled out of the saloon, so she stood there, leant against the post and hoped it wasn’t long. It left her with plenty of time to contemplate how her evening had spiraled so wildly out of control.

* * *

Three days later, she was still trying to make up for the lead Ramshorn had gotten that evening. Night started to fall, and usually she would have called it and set up camp, but she pushed herself on tonight. If she could just ride for another hour or two, she’d be one step closer to finding the woman in the morning. Her body was aching, and she was low on food, but she could keep going.

The weather was mild, not swelteringly warm and not so cold that she’d toss all night. The sky was clear and the air was still as anything, the stars above her reminding her of long days spent staring up with her mom as a kid. She shook those thoughts from her brain. She needed to focus.

An hour later, she was half asleep on Kevin’s back, and started keeping an eye out for somewhere ideal for camping out. Spotting a sheltered area fifteen feet from the side of the road, she nudged Kevin over to it, listening in the dead night for any sounds of trouble or life. It was silent. The area wasn’t spacious, just a semicircle of large rocks and a copse of trees on the other side. When she was 5 feet from the rocks, she heard a munching sound, and scanned again, her eyes straining through the low light.

There was a horse on the other side of the rocks. A familiar horse. No fucking way. She couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe she had actually fallen asleep on the horse’s back, because this was too good to be true. In all her days of bounty hunting, she had never even dreamed of finding her mark asleep by the side of the road in the exact spot she herself had meant to set up camp. But there she was, sprawled out on her back like she didn’t have a care in the world, brown hair splayed out in a mess and Raelle’s pistol an inch from her face.

Raelle hoped she wasn’t a light sleeper as she kicked the pistol out of reach. Odds were she had another gun about somewhere, but the blonde doubted she’d be dumb enough to sleep with it on her body. Light sleeper or not, it was almost guaranteed that as soon as Raelle touched the brunette, she’d wake. She needed to do this carefully. Grabbing a length of rope from her pack, Raelle thought it over and then paused by the sleeping body. She was hesitant about her plan, but at the end of the day, she needed some way to restrain the woman while she bound her hands, so she swung herself over the outlaw’s form to straddle her and reached for both wrists.

As expected, blue eyes snapped open immediately, and the brunette started trying to get free. It didn’t work very well though, between Raelle’s body weight and the hands gripping her wrists, Scylla couldn’t get free, and when the rope tightened against her skin, she knew she’d lost.

“Not gonna lie, I expected better from you Ramshorn.”

“Very funny, Collar.”

“Head back to sleep. I’m gonna tie your feet and we’ll stay camped here for the night. No point trying to make a break for it.”

A grin appeared on the previously sleepy face, “Or you could stay right there, and we could finish what we started last time. I’m not opposed to the restraints, if that’s what you’d prefer?”

Raelle jumped up to her feet, ignoring the woman’s words. She moved to bind Ramshorn’s feet and prayed that she’d stop talking and leave Raelle’s thoughts untainted.

“I’ll take that as a no then. Pity, you seemed to enjoy yourself the other night.”

“We both know that was a means to an end for the two of us.”

“I suppose. But you were so beautifully responsive, almost like you wanted it.”

“Funny, I could say the same for you.”

“Well yes, but I don’t think that’s the winning point you think it is. I literally just offered myself up again, who’s to say I didn’t have more than one motive.”

“Sorry to break it to you beautiful, but I don’t sleep with murderers.” Raelle tightened the rope around her ankles more than was necessary and then finished her last knot. Scylla had fallen silent at the words and now rolled over onto her side away from the blonde. Keeping her eyes on the woman, Raelle moved to roll out her blanket and double-checked Kevin was secured for the night. Settling down on the ground, she let her mind switch off, excited to finally start making her way home.


	2. Chapter 2

Raelle woke to Scylla poking her head.

“I need to pee.”

“And?”

A huff and then, “I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but peeing with your ankles and wrists tied is a little difficult.”

Body heavy, Raelle dragged herself up and started undoing the rope binding Scylla’s feet beside one another. She tugged the extra length of rope that bound her wrists, walking towards the copse of trees and wishing this murderer was a little more stupid. As it was, she was going to spend the next two weeks on edge, waiting for another escape attempt. It would be a long road home.

“Really? I’m not going to make a break for it, I just need to pee.”

“I don’t care what you do, you’re not wandering off on your own.”

“Can you at least turn around.”

She turned around.

“Any chance you could hum something?”

Raelle really wasn’t looking forward to another 14 days of this, “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“I’m not. You know, when I looked into you, everyone said you were a proper southern gentlewoman. How’d they all get that so wrong.”

“You murdered four people, sorry if my manners aren’t on par with your expectations.”

She heard a scoff and a zipper, and then Scylla appeared back at her side, “The camarilla are hardly people. They’ve done horrible things, they got what was coming to them.”

Raelle started walking, voice tight as she ignored the part of her brain that was tempted to agree, “That’s not your call. Who do you think you are? Some kind of vigilante doling out your own justice?”

“That’s rich coming from you cowboy. Thought you retired from doing the Marshal’s dirty work.”

“Why d’you know so much about me, huh?”

“Wanted to be prepared. Knew when I went after the Camarilla, they’d send the best after me. Word on the street was that it’s you. I wasn’t kidding when I said I expected better, you were _awfully_ easy to distract.”

Scylla was doing that thing with her eyes again, the one that pushed all the right buttons and made the blonde want to melt. Forcing herself back into control, Raelle grabbed some bread from her pack and chucked half of it toward the outlaw before she started eating the other half herself.

“Eat up, we’re not stoppin’ till sundown. I wanna get home.”

When camp was all cleared and they were ready to leave, Raelle wasn’t sure whether to trust the brunette on her own horse or not. She couldn’t risk losing her and having to spend another week chasing her, she’d been away from the ranch long enough.

Hat back on her head instead of Scylla’s, she faced the brunette, “You have two options; I tie your ankles together again and throw you over your own horse and tie her to Kevin, or you ride with me. Your choice.”

“Who the fuck is Kevin?”

Raelle bit back a grin at the comment. If she was going to make it home and collect that bounty, she needed to stop being captivated by every little thing her captive did.

“Kevin’s my horse.”

Scylla’s face dropped, voice completely flat as she said, “You horse is called Kevin?”

Raelle really wanted to be at home. Or at least alone. Teeth grinding against each other, she answered, “Yes. Now, do you want to be on your horse or mine?”

“To be clear, either you sling me over the back of Coco like a sack of bones or we both ride Kevin?”

“Coco? And you tried to give me shit for Kevin?”

“Kevin is a human name!”

“Why would you say that in front of Kevin? And in case you hadn’t noticed, Coco isn’t exactly a horse name either.”

Scylla rolled her eyes more dramatically than Raelle thought anyone ever had and stared at the blonde for a moment before sighing, “I’ll ride with you.”

Raelle made an ever emphasised gesture towards her horse and let the sarcasm drip from her voice, “Great, after you.”

Watching Scylla, who somehow stood even shorter than Raelle, struggle to get onto the horse with her hands bound together was entertaining, and there was a slither of the blonde that wanted to keep watching her fail. If she looked ridiculous, at least Raelle wasn’t thinking about how well her jeans fit, and besides that, she’d inadvertently caused Raelle two weeks of pain. Instead of listening to that part of her brain, she begrudgingly helped lift the brunette up, only to instantly regret it.

“Watch where you put those hands Collar,”

It was going to be a long journey home.

* * *

Maybe suggesting they ride together had been poorly thought out. Scylla’s back was pressed snugly against her front, and given how similar their heights were, Raelle had to tilt her head to the side to see where they were going. Half the time she didn’t bother, trusting Kevin not to veer off their path. She held the reins loosely in her hands, arms straining from the effort of lifting them so that they didn’t rest against Scylla’s waist.

So far, they’d ridden in silence, and Raelle was grateful for it. She was starting to believe that maybe the next ten days wouldn’t be as painful as she’d thought. She was wrong.

“You know, I’m starting to think these riding arrangements had an ulterior motive.”

“Well, you’d be wrong then miss.”

“Pity.” _Please stop talking, please stop talking, please stop talking_.

“So why bounty hunting?”

“Why do you care?”

Scylla continued in a matter-of-fact way, like Raelle hadn’t even spoken, “Clearly you don’t like it. And your family has a ranch. So, why’d you start in the first place?”

“We _really_ don’t have to talk.”

“Well once you hand me over to Alder, I imagine it’ll be a while before I have anyone around worth talking to. Humour me.”

Deciding it couldn’t do any harm, and that it might distract her from their proximity, Raelle answered, “We needed the money. Ranch had been gettin’ out of shape for years, and it was runnin’ itself into the ground. I thought I’d chase bounties for a few years and save enough to fix her up and expand.”

“Sixteen’s pretty young to start running around after criminals, why not wait a few years?”

“I sucked at everything else. I could work the ranch, but that was it, and at that stage my parents were both workin’ it so they didn’t need me to. Figured I should make myself useful some way, and I had everything I needed to do it. So I did.”

“And did you save enough to do what you wanted with the ranch?”

If only. Raelle chose her words carefully, not wishing to disclose what had brought her back out to the hunt. She did her best to hide her melancholy, but couldn’t quite banish it when she replied, “Mostly. Four years was long enough for me though. You were right, I hate it.”

“Ranch must be important to you, if you stuck it out for four years.”

“It is. I grew up there, was around cattle and horses before I could walk. There’s still nothin’ quite like sitting on that porch and starin’ out at the horizon.” Her mama had taught her to ride when she was a toddler, and by the time she was five she had her own pony that she followed Willa around on. She’d wanted to be just like the woman, had even tried to dress like her. When she’d died, Raelle had started wearing her hat, and still kept her favourite boots in her room beside all of her own.

“I can’t imagine growing up like that. Sounds peaceful.”

“It is.”

It was clear from her tone that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and Scylla let it drop. They chatted intermittently about unimportant things, but it was always initiated by Scylla, and was never anything personal.

* * *

Now that she had Scylla, there was no reason Raelle could see not to spend a night at an inn. It had been nearly four weeks since she’d slept on an actual bed and she was desperate not to wait another week and a half. She’d been frugal, she always was, so one night couldn’t hurt. However, no innkeeper would tolerate her bringing an outlaw into their establishment.

It was dark, the sun having set some hours ago, and if Raelle wasn’t mistaken, Scylla was dozing in front of her as Kevin crept forward at his usual spritely walking pace. She’d given up trying to keep her arms afloat a few hours into their journey, earning a suggestive comment that did more to her than she was comfortable with, and now with Scylla sleeping she could admit to herself that she liked the weight against her chest. Doing her best to ignore those feelings and knowing there was only a short distance between them and the nearest town, the blonde nudged the sleeping woman awake, “So I’ve been thinkin’.”

Even in her sleepy state, the outlaw managed to keep her sarcasm thick, “A modern miracle.”

Ignoring the words, Raelle pushed on, “I’m sick of sleepin’ on the ground, so if you want to sleep on an actual bed tonight, then I need you to swear you won’t run off the second I untie your wrists.”

The sluggishness vanished from the brunette’s posture, her head turning sharply to the side, brows furrowed in surprise or excitement, Raelle couldn’t quite tell with the darkness and the proximity.

“Please tell me you’re being serious. I’d kill for a good night’s sleep.” A pause, “That was probably a poor choice of words.”

Ignoring the faux pas, and refusing the smile that tried to form on her face, Raelle spoke sternly, “I need you to swear you won’t run. And as soon as we’re in that room I’m tying your wrists back together. Can you do that, or are we both gonna to have to sleep on the ground again?”

“I swear I won’t run off as soon as you untie my wrists. But what makes you think I’ll keep my word?”

In truth, Raelle had gotten used to her company in the two short days, and as much as she didn’t trust the woman in general, so far, she hadn’t lied. Plus, Raelle was desperate, she’d forgotten how much she missed home when she was away, how much running around after criminals drained her.

“Stupidity, probably.”

The continued in silence, until Raelle could just about make out the town in the little moonlight they were lucky to get. She slowed Kevin to a stop and started untying the knots binding Scylla’s wrists without answering the question in the brunette’s eyes. When she returned her hands to the reins, she let her arms rest more tightly against Scylla’s waist than previously.

When the outlaw’s questioning gaze didn’t drop, the blonde sighed, “If someone sees us riding into town with you bound, the innkeeper might hear about it before we even make it inside.”

Scylla didn’t say anything, just raised her arms and shook out her hands with a tepid smile on her lips. In the two days they’d been on the road, Raelle had seen plenty of teasing smirks and insincere grins – always accompanying witty words- but this was the first genuine smile the woman had let slip. It suited her.

Raelle didn’t have time to think about that though, because when she looked up, she caught sight of an inn just ahead of them. After leading Kevin and Coco over to tie them up for the night, she hesitated to dismount.

“If you make a run for it, I’ll shoot. Alder didn’t say anything about needing you uninjured.” Raelle wasn’t sure that she was telling the truth, but clearly the other woman believed her.

The smile that had softened Scylla’s face morphed immediately into a now familiar smirk, “You sure do know how to sweet talk a woman, Collar.”

Raelle slid off the horse first, before addressing the outlaw again, “Wait there ‘til I’ve tied Coco up and got my stuff.” Raelle was used to getting no response from Scylla by now, the woman only spoke when she chose to, so the blonde didn’t think anything of it when she received no sign of having been heard. Scylla was too careful for her own good. Raelle knew she’d been heard, the lack of response didn’t mean anything. By the time she’d sorted everything out, the brunette was still stroking Kevin’s soft coat, having gotten into his good graces already. It wasn’t his usual behaviour, he didn’t even like Tally, which should be impossible. He only ever really preened for Raelle. She always thought their grumpiness bonded them, but apparently, she wasn’t that special after all.

Raelle lifted a hand to offer to Scylla, but the brunette raised an eyebrow and jumped down on her own. Still, Raelle extended her hand, "Take it. I don't trust you not to make a break for it.”  
  
Rolling her eyes, Scylla took the hand. The bounty hunter started walking towards the inn door, practically dragging the outlaw behind her, but by the time they got to the counter, Scylla had changed her tune. Raelle did her best not to look startled when Scylla cozied up to her, intertwining their fingers and resting her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"Hello dears, what can I do for you?" The woman was short and stout, with a kind face. She looked like the kind of grandma that always had cookies waiting. Raelle just hoped she wasn’t the talkative type; she didn’t want to loiter here all night.

Raelle had just gotten over the close contact when Scylla started talking with a southern accent that was surprisingly well faked. Raelle was going to murder her. 

  
"We'd like a room for the night-"  
  


"With two beds, ma'am."  
  


Scylla laughed in an exaggerated manner, like she knew just how much she was pissing the blonde off as she lifted a hand and playfully shoved her, "Always such a gentlewoman, aren't you sweetcheeks?"  
  


The innkeeper smiled at the pair and said, "No problem, it's pretty quiet this time of year so you're in luck." 

When their keys were in hand and they got out of earshot Raelle couldn't hold her tongue anymore, "What the hell was that?"  
  


"Oh relax, I was just messing around. Don't work yourself up over it. Or do."

  
The outlaw winked before skipping ahead to the door a few feet in front of them, and when Raelle caught up, she was lounging comfortably on one of the beds with her arms folded behind her head and her eyes closed. That small smile had returned, and Raelle stood mesmerised against her will, fully aware that if she'd met the brunette in any other situation, she would've liked her. Hell, even with how they had met, Raelle had been easily taken in by her. Thoughts like this wouldn't do, she needed to get herself under control.  
  


"Don't get too comfortable there, I'm still tying you back up." 

* * *

If that noise didn’t stop, Raelle was going to scream. She was so snug, tucked into an actual bed and content from a dreamless sleep. She wouldn’t let some stupid background noise wake her up.

Eyes widening, the blonde shot upright fast as she could.

“Shit.” Scylla looked like a deer in headlights, frozen at the foot of Raelle’s bed with a pocketknife -from who knows where- awkwardly held in both hands as she attempted to cut the rope holding her hands together.

The blonde didn’t need the moonlight to know what was happening, but it did help as she marched over to the woman, grabbed a fresh length of rope from the bag behind her head and swapped the old for the new.

“One night’s sleep Ramshorn. Just one night’s sleep. Can’t believe I believed you.”

Scylla looked up sheepishly, “In my defense, I swore not to run off as soon as you untied my hands. I didn’t say anything about not making an escape in the middle of the night.”

Raelle tried really hard not to laugh, knowing she should be angry. She did her absolute best. She failed. She could blame it on the tiredness in her bones or the nightcap she had right before sleeping, but she couldn’t stop it. Scylla looked confused for a moment, before joining in with the delirious laughter.

When her brain stepped back in line, Raelle took the knife from Scylla’s hands and softly said, “Go back to bed, preferably without getting back up and trying to escape again.”

The outlaw met her eyes and stared for longer than was polite, before offering Raelle a gentle smile that melted her even more. “I swear I won’t try and escape, at least until morning.”

“That’s good enough for me.” The whispered words filled the small room, but neither moved for a few tense seconds. She felt herself leaning forward unconsciously, eyes unconsciously flickering down to plump lips, and then Raelle jerked her eyes away just in time and made for her bed.

When she glanced back at Scylla, the woman was still shuffling around the room, looking sheepish and silently lost in thought.

* * *

“So, what convinced you to come out of retirement?”

Raelle thought that Scylla’s chattiness would have faded after a few days, but a week later the woman was still trying to fill their das with conversation.

“Needed the money. There’s a pretty penny on your head darlin’.” The last word slipped out before she realised she’d said it, and even though it was clearly teasing, Raelle had been trying to avoid any blurry lines. It wasn’t as easy as it should’ve been. Despite herself, sometimes when Scylla filled their days with chatter Raelle enjoyed the endless prattling. It was probably a tactic. Scylla had already proved she knew how to distract the blonde, and more likely than not, this was another attempt to get Raelle to lower her guard so she could escape.

“I thought you said you’d saved what you wanted before? Must need that money for something serious if you were willing to come back to a job you’ve admitted you hate.”

Raelle didn’t like the direction today’s conversation was going, and tried to answer without actually answering, “Yeah well, Alder knows what buttons to push.”

“I can see that; she seems like a piece of work. It’s not surprising that she’s gotten good at that though, being under the Camarilla’s thumb and all that.”

Raelle wanted to be able to disagree, but the brunette wasn’t wrong. As much as the Camarilla had always rubbed her the wrong way, any time Raelle tried to find anything on them or asked Alder about something she thought was amiss, she’d been rebuffed and given a spiel about all the philanthropic work they did. She herself had often contemplated whether there was something fishy going on with Alder.

“The whole town’s under their thumb, there’s nothin’ different about Alder.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, sweetcheeks.” If the outlaw’s condescending tone wasn’t enough to infuriate her, the nickname that had stuck around since the inn would’ve finished the job off, “Alder shot a civilian just before she became Marshal. I’m sure it was an accident, but it happened, the civilian died, and the Camarilla covered it up. She got her promotion, and they got a justice system they could use however they wanted.”

Again, Raelle felt herself unable to shake the brunette’s words despite wanting to. She scoffed anyway, refusing to let Scylla think she’d gotten to her.

“Scoff all you like Collar, but I’ve seen that case file in your pack. Why bother taking that if some part of you doesn’t have suspicions about whether or not I’m the bad guy here.”

“Thought it might help me figure out where you were hidin’.”

“Sure.”

“Can you stop that!”

“Stop what?” She fucking knew what.

“Saying everything like you know better than everyone.”

“But I do. Most of the time, anyway.”

Gritting her teeth, Raelle hoped that if she stopped replying, then the woman in front of her would stop talking. It hadn’t worked any time she’d tried so far, but she wasn’t giving up.

“So, feel like telling me what you needed the extra money for now? Or would you prefer to dodge the question again.”

“If I tell you will you stop talkin’?”

“Maybe. Only for like an hour though.”

“My pops can’t keep working the ranch. His back ain’t able anymore. And I can’t do it all on my own, so I need to hire someone or downsize. I worked four years to expand, downsizing isn’t really an option I wanna consider.”

“Makes sense.”

“Thought you said you’d stop talkin’.”

And then she did.

Scylla hadn’t started talking again by the time Raelle spotted a palomino with a familiar rider coming up fast behind them.

“Fuck. Grab Kevin’s mane.”

“What?”

Raelle had already nudged Kevin into action. She’d taken Porter Tippet in for stealing two years ago. He’d gotten 10 years, a sentence even she thought was severe, and his asshole of a little brother had never let it go. He’d sworn left, right and center that he’d get his revenge, and she was pretty sure she didn’t want to stop and have a chat about what that meant. They’d had several run ins since then, and on more than one of them the little shit had shot at her. He’d missed every time, but only because Raelle was good at getting out of the way. She really didn’t want to get into a gun fight with one fugitive already in her care, but she was worried about outrunning the man with Kevin carrying both her and Scylla.

Scylla had caught on just in time, fingers winding into the mane so as not to fall as Kevin galloped on. Coco, who was still tied to the horse they rode, was just about keeping up, but Raelle was concerned about how long that would last, “If Coco can’t keep up, I’ll have to cut her loose.”

“You’re not cutting her loose.”

A bullet flew past them somewhere to their right and Raelle nudged Kevin again, “Fuck.”

“Untie me.”

“Really? You’re doing this right now?”

“Someone needs to start shooting back or we’re never going to gain any distance.”

“So I’m supposed to just untie the murderer and give her a gun? As if.”

“Then you shoot! But if I fall off this damn horse because I’m tied up and you’re all twisted, then you’re going to have more than one problem.”

She was right. Taking both reins in her good hand, Raelle fished around in her shirt pocket and pulled out a switchblade. She handed it to the brunette and picked the rein back up, “Fine then. But if you cut your hand off tryin’ to cut that rope, it’s on you.”

Without maiming herself, Scylla managed to free her hands of the rope quickly, before making to grab the reins from the blonde, “Give me that and start shooting.”

Raelle dropped the reins again. Grabbing the front of the saddle and stabilizing herself as best she could, she twisted her torso to get a good look behind her. He was closer than she’d like. But Raelle was a damn good shot, and if he was that close then she could hit him, all twisted up or not. Pistol in hand, she took aim at his shoulder- there was no point shooting anywhere life threatening, she just needed to make it so that he couldn’t shoot anymore.

She sent off three shots, the first just missing as Kevin jerked slightly to the side, the latter two finding their mark in either shoulder. Feeling slightly off balance, Raelle turned back around to look ahead and looped her good arm back around Scylla’s waist. Hearing a faint groan from behind her, she glanced back to see their chaser starting to lose distance.

“Raelle, can you take these back.” Something was clearly off; Scylla’s voice was tight. Returning her pistol to its holster, Raelle did as asked and hoped the woman wasn’t about to make a break for it.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s fine, I’d just prefer we put more distance between us and him.”

For once, Scylla didn’t so much as try to make any conversation for what must have been nearly an hour. They’d slowed their pace to a trot, Kevin tiring and Tippet long lost. Raelle raised her left hand up to move hair behind her ear and panicked when she caught the red on her white cotton shirt. Surely she’d have noticed if she’d been hit? Shaking her arm, she was certain it wasn’t her blood, which only left one option.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you got hit?”

“It’s just a graze, it’ll be fine.”

“It’s getting’ dark, and Kevin’s exhausted. We might as well stop soon.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were worried about me sweetcheeks.”

“Good thing you know better then. Keep an eye out for a good spot.” Raelle _was_ worried, as much as she wished she wasn’t, and she couldn’t even say that it was because she didn’t want a reduced bounty.

It didn’t take long for them to find a decent space to set up for the night, and when they did, Scylla sighed, “I guess it’s time for you to tie me back up?”

Raelle probably should have agreed and got to it. Instead, she held out her hand, “Give me my switchblade back and you can keep your hands free until we go to sleep.”

Scylla furrowed her eyebrows, clearly not expecting the reply, and dug the aforementioned knife from her front pocket. She looked like she wanted to say more, but Raelle gestured behind them where a group of boulders just the right size for sitting on waited for them.

“Let me look at that graze.”

“I told you it was fine.”

“Yeah well, no point leaving it bare when I have a med pack. Sit.”

The brunette did as she was told, albeit begrudgingly. Raelle crouched beside her with the second smaller pack she travelled with and pointed at her side.

“Do you mind uh…”

Scylla rolled her eyes at the blonde’s awkwardness before undoing the buttons on her shirt and pulling her left arm out. She could feel goosebumps forming as the cold air hit and a delicate hand traced along her waist just under the wound.

“You should’ve said something sooner. That’s a pretty messy graze.” Raelle’s eyes were fixed on the torn skin which stood out against an otherwise unmarred landscape of pale skin and freckles. She was doing her best to avoid moving her eyes from the wound, not wanted the other woman to think she was taking advantage of the situation, despite the unshakable pull to let her eyes wander all over the exposed canvas of skin.

“Yeah well, we had higher priorities than bandaging me up.”

At the brunette’s quiet words, Raelle snapped out of her reverie and joked, “Yeah, but I could’ve rolled my sleeves up and spared my shirt.”

“Deepest apologies ma’am. Next time I’ll do my best not to stain your precious clothes.”

The light-hearted words earned a chuckle as Raelle opened her pack and started working quietly on the graze. It was done quickly, but the work was neat all the same. When she finished, Scylla shucked off her shirt entirely to replace it with a clean one, and Raelle turned, cheeks slightly flushed, to start building a fire.

“Thank you.” The words were quiet, but it was the soft sincerity that shocked the blonde. Although Scylla didn’t say anything more, Raelle kept an ear on the rustling, still not trusting that the brunette wouldn’t take the opportunity to run, but before long the woman was at her side laughing.

“God you’re terrible at that. Give it here.”

Usually, she was passable at starting fires, but with her distracted brain her attempts had been weak, so she wordlessly let Scylla take over.

“So how’d you learn to fix stuff like that? Trick of the trade?”

“That, and my mama was a doctor before she married pop. Gave it up to work the ranch, but me and pops were clumsy, so she was always fixing us up.” Raelle swallowed the lump that rose in her throat and kept going, “She taught me a thing or two. I’m good at it, but I never paid much attention. I always wanted to play cowboy I guess.” Another pause, “Probably should’ve paid more attention when I had the chance.”

“Sorry, I know it’s a sensitive subject. I didn’t mean to poke.”

At that, Raelle let herself laugh loudly, “You’ve been poking for days! Nice job with the fire, by the way.”

“We’d have been here all night if I’d left it to you. And I know I’ve been poking, but I didn’t mean to bring your mother up. Dislike me all you want, but I’m not some monster. I wouldn’t poke that wound.”

There was so much more to unpack from what Scylla had said, but all Raelle could focus on was one word. We. They word had been tossed around a lot, and now that she’d picked up on it, it was hard to put the thought away. We. We. We. When did she start using the word we? Scylla was getting to her. She’d softened to the woman at some stage and she couldn’t place when. She needed to stop, it was a slippery slope from where she was now to completely abandoning the bounty. Soon enough, she might forget what Scylla had done, might forgive it, might let her go.

But she knew being as far gone as she was meant that the outlaw wasn’t entirely in the wrong. She’d admitted that already, had this internal debate already. It should’ve stopped the first time she’d told herself to box it up, or the second time, or the hundredth. If it hadn’t stopped then, it probably wouldn’t now, which left her only with the option she least liked. She had to find out why she’d done it. If the brunette couldn’t give her a good, concrete reason, Raelle was certain her brain would snap back into place. And if she could, then that was a problem for the future.

* * *

Raelle struggled to sleep that night, spending most of it mulling over how to ask the outlaw about her crimes. For all Scylla’s talking, she rarely ever revealed anything about herself. All Raelle actually knew about her from their conversations was that the woman had moved around a lot. It was difficult to align her crimes with the innocent face of the woman sleeping a few feet from her. While awake, it was more feasible; Scylla was quick-witted, charming, she knew exactly what to say and when to say it and it wasn’t hard to see how that intelligence might lend itself to the perfectly carried out crimes. But in sleep that was gone. All that was left was a young woman who more than anything looked tired. Bags that did nothing to dull her beauty but were nonetheless ever present against her pale skin, the restless way she tossed every single night, not to mention the times Raelle had woken in the night to find the brunette clearly distressed.

She didn’t seem like a cold-blooded killer though. And she clearly thought Alder and the rest of the Camarilla were corrupt. Against her better judgement, Raelle really wanted her to have a reason. She’d been easier company than most. She never complained except maybe about her tied wrists and occasionally Raelle’s silence, both of which were fair grievances. She was funny and clearly smart, and she knew when Raelle needed to be left with her thoughts. And above all of that, Raelle knew she could’ve escaped by now if she’d really tried, but she hadn’t.

The same thoughts plagued the blonde’s mind all of the next day, and by the time they were setting up camp that night, she still hadn’t asked what she wanted to.

“You’ve been quiet. I mean, more so than usual.” It wasn’t surprising the woman had noticed. Raelle found satisfaction in the fact that Scylla’s eyes lingered on her often, and she wasn’t so dense that she couldn’t see that whether or not it had been a farce that first night, Scylla found her attractive.

Sighing, Raelle realised she was running out of time. She only had three days or so left, and the closer they got to Salem, the more likely they’d run into someone else who knew about the bounty. This was probably the best chance she’d get to ask, but she was overly aware that bringing this up might make for three tension filled days home. It didn’t matter though. She had to know.

“Why’d you do it?”

She couldn’t look at the brunette. Afraid of the reaction she’d get, and more than anything, she didn’t want to see the guilt confirmed on her face. That didn’t matter though, because Scylla was equally afraid to look at her.

“My parents were scientists. We moved around a lot my whole life, and when I was younger it was hard to never have friends my own age, but by the time I was 16 my parents _were_ my best friends. So it was okay.” The words were whispered, like the outlaw was afraid of speaking them, and Raelle didn’t know where this was going but she was fairly certain that she was about to find out that she’d been right in assuming Scylla was the daughter of that Ramshorn couple that died.

“We moved to Salem a few months ago. My parents were studying some rare plant that grows on the outskirts of town, apparently there were theories about some medicinal properties or something. Anyway, one day, they found out that the farm down the road had lost all its chickens. And then a week later most of their pigs were sick. My parents are curious, they could never leave anything alone. So they looked into it. And what they found, was that Mr Swythe had bee seen loitering around the farm both times. And then all of a sudden, our neighbours couldn’t afford the mortgage payments because of the lost income, and Mr Swythe sweeps in and offers to buy the house and rent it back to them.”

Raelle, impatient and hoping she’d actually get answers soon, interrupted, “So you think Mr Swythe poisoned the animals?”

“Yeah. But they were confused about why he’d bother. The Camarilla own most of the land in town anyway, why orchestrate this whole thing over one more house? And then they kept digging around and realised that fifteen years ago, most residents in Salem owned their own property. Now, most of them rent. Your family is actually one of the few who still own all their land and assets, and even that’s probably only because you started as a bounty hunter 5 years ago. Over the last fifteen years, slowly but surely, almost every family in Salem has had some seemingly random tragedy strike and had to sell. And every time, someone from the Camarilla swept in and saved the day. And now they own everything and rent’s slowly creeping higher, and everyone is afraid to do anything to question them because they’ve made it so that they have all the power in Salem. I mean, they literally run the town.”

Scylla stopped for a moment, catching her breath and rustling up the courage to keep going. When she paused, Raelle looked over at her for the first time since she’d started speaking, but Scylla was still looking rigidly in front of her.

“My parents confronted Mayor Treefine about it. He adamantly denied any involvement, acted all infuriated that they’d suggested it. Gave the whole spiel about how they saved the residents of Salem.” Scylla stopped again, but this time her eyes squeezed shut and she took in a shaky breath. Raelle had to resist the urge to reach over and comfort her, not knowing how the brunette would react and also not wanting to blur any more lines.

“The next day, I found my parents dead in their beds.”

Raelle decided she didn’t care about lines anymore, because Scylla was crying, and criminal or not, Raelle couldn’t sit and watch the brunette cry while she forced herself to tell the bounty hunter about her dead parents. Moving over to sit pressed up against Scylla, Raelle wrapped an arm over her shoulder and felt the woman lean her head against her shoulder.

Scylla’s hands fisted in her skirts as a distraction, and her voice was still shaky when she started speaking again, nestled so close that Raelle could feel the air tickle her neck, “Dr. Buttonwood said there was no foul play, but her husband’s one of them too. I thought about going to Alder, but I’d never trusted her either. So I did some more digging. Found more dead bodies around town. Not many, mind you, but enough perfectly healthy people die in one town and it’s a pattern, not a coincidence. Found out about Alder too. I tried to get a lawyer in town to listen to me, but they were all too afraid to do anything about it. I couldn’t stand seeing them walk around town all day, smug about everything, acting like saviours. So, I decided that if no one else would do anything about it I would.”

Scylla pulled away, elbows on knees, looking straight ahead again, “Then I shot four of them, including Swythe and Buttonwood. I wanted to get Treefine too, but it was too difficult to get to him. You can call me a murderer all you want, but they were sucking the people of that town dry. And they killed my parents. Tit-for-tat and all that.” Scylla’s gaze dropped to her hands, but Raelle was processing too much to react to any of it yet. The silence hung in the air for seemingly hours.

“Anyway, I think I’m going to head to sleep now.” And she did, while Raelle sat in the same spot contemplating everything. And then moved to lie down, and for the second night in a row, got very little sleep thanks to the outlaw.

* * *

When Scylla woke the next day, she felt like she’d been drinking all night. Dehydrated and sluggish, she sat up and was greeted by a ready to go Raelle.

“Anacostia Quartermaine.”

It was too early for this. The brunette lay back down, closed her eyes again and huffed, “What?”

“She’s not afraid of Alder, or the Camarilla. She’s a lawyer next town over. Used to live in Salem but clashed with Alder too much. She’s a good woman, honest, fair. She won’t like that you’ve murdered four people, but she’ll jump at the chance to take down the Camarilla. I reckon we talk to her first, then confront Alder and get her to turn on the Camarilla, it shouldn’t be too hard, she hates bein’ controlled.”

“Wait a minute,” Scylla scrambled onto her feet and crossed the space separating the pair to grip the blonde by the shoulders, “You believe me?”

“I always knew the Camarilla was dodgy, and what you’ve said is true. I can think of too many examples of random accidents that only ever benefit them. Plus, if it isn’t true, Anacostia will figure it out in two minutes flat.”

“Raelle, that could take months. What about the ranch, and your father?”

“Tally can look after that for a few months, she could use the peace. And pops will be okay. But we can’t let the Camarilla keep doing what they’re doing.”

“Do you mean it?” A bashful grin was on the brunette’s face, and Raelle was having difficulty focusing on anything but the spark in her eyes.

“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”

And then Scylla’s hands were on the blonde’s cheeks, pulling their faces closer until they were less than an inch apart and looking into Raelle’s eyes with a question. Raelle moved the last inch, and immediately felt herself softening against Scylla. She’d been avoiding thinking about their first kiss since it happened, chastising herself for being unable to shake her attraction the woman, but that attraction had only grown. And feeling the brunette pressed up against her again far surpassed the version in her head.

“Wait, when did my hands get free?”

Chuckling at the interruptions, Raelle slid her hands around the waist they’d temptingly lain against for a week, “When I decided to trust you. Figured Anacostia wouldn’t take us serious if I carted you in there with your hands bound.”

“Probably not, no.” Scylla’s whispered words were lost on Raelle, who was too busy focusing on the thumb stroking along her jaw. When Scylla brought their lips back together, Raelle hummed at the contact and let her grip on the woman’s waist tighten.

* * *

Two hours later, they hadn’t moved from camp. Instead, they lay mostly naked, entangled together under a shared blanket. Raelle shifted slightly, curiosity causing her to mumble into brown hair, “What was your plan for after?”

“Hm?”

“Why leave a note? You might’ve gotten away with it otherwise.”

“Oh. I knew they’d know it was me. Even if they had no proof, I’d been snooping around far too much. Figured if I left a note then at least they couldn’t kill me without it being obvious retaliation. And I didn’t have a plan for after, roam around if I didn’t get caught, I guess.”

“You could’ve just bailed, moved town, let the Camarilla be our problem, done whatever you wanted.”

“I actually don’t know what I could’ve done. All I can do is what my parent taught me, which would’ve just reminded me of them constantly, and horses. Don’t know if you noticed, but I don’t exactly have a ton of extra resources up my sleeve.”

“Could’ve run away, found some cowboy and made them fall in love with you.”

Scylla turned onto her side to face Raelle with a raised eyebrow, “Oh I could have, could I?”

“Mm hm. You’re pretty good at it.”

Scylla laughed, “Well, there is this one girl I like. What do you think, could I con her in to putting up with me for a while?”

Leaning into the brunette’s space, Raelle pecked the woman before pulling back to say, “Seems like a sure bet to me.”

* * *

Two months later, Raelle had a very angry Abigail Bellweather sleeping on her couch. Quatermaine had pulled it off and managed to get a pardon for Scylla on top, but in the fallout, both of Abigail’s parents had been arrested and they’d lost the family home. She’d just about forgiven Raelle, aware that it wasn’t really her fault but still needing somewhere to put her anger. All of the Camarilla had been given jail time, some more than others (apparently some of them were oblivious to the murders, though both Raelle and Scylla found that difficult to believe), and most of the town residents had been able to buy back their property for fair prices.

Alder stepped down as Marshal, and Abigail’s only saving grace in the whole situation was that she was given the job in her stead. There was a lot of talk around town about her age and her parents, but Abigail had been a dedicated enforcer of the law for years now, and everyone within the office knew that. Tally was overjoyed about it, and at having her doubts about the Camarilla confirmed.

Raelle’s father’s back was doing much better, now that he didn’t have to work the ranch all day. Raelle had initially wanted to take things slow with Scylla, but she hadn’t accounted for being in such close proximity for the entirety of the case. Slow had gone out the window. As soon as Scylla’s pardon had come in, both had moved back to the ranch, eradicating the need for a new hire entirely. Her father had been skeptic at first, which no one could blame him for, it wasn’t everyday your daughter took up with a woman she’d been sent on a bounty for. But that hadn’t lasted long, as Scylla proved her intentions with his daughter were only good.

For the first time since her mother’s death, Raelle felt peaceful. The ranch was doing well, her pops was content, and she was lucky enough to wake up next to the woman she loved every morning. Scylla still struggled with her own parent’s deaths sometimes, but it was new, and she was adamant that Raelle helped ease that burden, which was really all anyone could do. This time, when Raelle swore she’d never go on another bounty, she meant it. After all, how could she ever top the last one?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I could've done there's only one bed... Apologies for any pain it's caused you that I didn't


End file.
